Northern San Juan

Avalanche

Becs Hodgetts · Jan 9, 2021 · Northern San Juan

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Weather

Overcast throughout tour. Temps stayed in the single digits-teens no winds moving snow at ridgetop. Also no snow to move...

Snowpack

East below treeline slopes at 10 500' are very thin with average HS 30cm and many downed trees to negotiate. As you move closer to treeline, the average HS gets to 80cm-1m. BTL slopes are mostly faceted throughout. Boot pen is to ground. Ski pen 20cm. Some local collapses with 10m shooting cracks on steeper slopes below treeline. I could not coax any sluffs to pick up speed. As you get closer to 11200',the upper snowpack becomes slightly more supportive to skis. A small D1 avalanche had been previously triggered on a covex roll. It did not gouge into deeper layers. I dug on northeast and southeast near treeline. Propagating results in both pits. Overall a very shallow, weak snowpack.

Avalanche

Previously triggered. Wild guess for day.